| 13 November 2004 | Saturday | 29 Ramazan 1425 |
Awareness of AIDS
India's quest for UNSC seat
Altaf's Delhi visit
'Primacy of textbook revision'
Campus violence
Tampering with history
Military spending
Road repairs
A rebel with a cause
Poaching birds
Need for bargaining
A suggestion
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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his recent interview with the Financial Times repeated his commitment that India was open to exploring all options to resolve the Kashmir dispute, but at the same time he declared that the disputed state was an inalienable part of India.
This simply means blowing hot and cold. The same was the stand of his predecessor, Atal Behari Vajpayee. The relatively more sober politician Inder Kumar Gujral has also repeatedly expressed the same views.
Such statements only prove that India has neither the desire nor the intention to resolve the dispute. It bases its stand on the following arguments: First, the accession to India by the hereditary ruler was final. India's leadership is not honest about it.
The relevant document of accession was for provisional accession as proved by Lord Mount batten that the final arbiters shall be the people and the offer of accession by the state ruler was an interim measure. The subsequent commitment of India to allow a plebiscite in accordance with Security Council resolutions was acceptance of the fact that the accession was provisional.
Second, there have been repeated claims that Kashmir is an integral part of India under its constitution and that giving it up will be a violation of the constitution. The status of the state was accepted to be disputed even at the time the constitution was adopted.
After its adoption India continued to accept that a final decision about the state's accession rested with the people. The United Nations and Pakistan which is a party to the dispute are not bound by any provision in India's constitution.
Third, because India is a secular state, secession of any part of the country on religious grounds will change its secular character. This is no justification for depriving the people of their right of self-determination.
It should not be forgotten that the Security Council resolutions do not make any mention of the rights of any particular community to determine their future. They stress the right of the people to decide their future themselves by freely exercising their right to vote
Fourth, India fears secession of Kashmir will encourage separatist movements and may lead to further divisions of the country. This only means that India is not a nation and its unity is preserved by artificial means.
All of these excuses are untenable and advanced to avoid meaningful negotiations to resolve the issue. Pakistan has now offered some proposals in the interest of peace in the region and cannot go any further. The ball is now in India's court.
PROF MUKHTAR ALI NAQVI
Orlando, Fl., USA
Awareness of AIDS
Aids has been the subject of often-distorted, indeed seriously misleading, publicity. Frightening accounts have undoubtedly fanned the public hysteria surrounding AIDS and have encouraged prejudice against the sufferers, their families and friends, and the social groups to which they belong.
Prejudice and discrimination have been exacerbated by identification of many of those infected todate with stigmatized minority groups, undermining the tolerance which society had accorded these groups during one or two decades preceding the advent of the virus.
The irrational fears and negative discriminatory responses of the public and tragically those of some healthcare workers also present constant problems to the patients, their families and those concerned with their care.
Family, friends and lovers may be distressed by a conflict between their love of the patient and the humiliation and social embarrassment of being closely associated with him.
Confusion about the risk of transmitting infection to others and about precautions that have to be followed add to the stress, as does the need to sacrifice rewarding behaviours and lifestyles.
Identification of HIV-positive status may cause intense emotional distress, leading to suicidal ideas and behaviour, especially if the sufferer has received no preparatory counselling. The diagnosis of AIDS itself is a catastrophic trauma and is followed by emotional symptoms resembling those encountered with other life-threatening illnesses.
Indeed, it seems that every manifestation of the virus, direct or indirect, provides a set of problems for multidisciplinary psychological and medical care. An extraordinary wide range of professions, charitable organizations and volunteers are involved.
The needs are many and the opportunities are great; there is more than enough room for everybody to contribute. Failure of understanding, collaboration or harmonization of efforts would be tragic.
I believe if the people knew more about the disease and the way it works - if they knew more basic science about it - many of their fears would disappear. Perhaps, one of the mistakes we are making is that we are providing generalized rules rather than generalized information.
DR AYAZ AZHAR SIDDIQUI
Karachi
India's quest for UNSC seat
Dr Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state, who has been involved in South Asia's politics for over four decades, has come out in support of the Indian desire for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council as, he thinks, India is a world power.
India was working to rally support for the Security Council seat even before it actually became a nuclear power in May 1998. Just after that, London papers and even the British foreign secretary were openly supporting it.
India has been aspiring for the prestigious seat for three simple reasons: (a) it is a big regional power (that too self-proclaimed, but Dr Kissinger has promoted it to a world power), (b) it is the largest democracy (although its society is devoid of justice) and (c) it is a nuclear power. But nuclear power does not entitle it to a permanent seat.
If it does, then Pakistan is a candidate too. Excepting the US, which had destroyed Japan's two cities with its lethal nuclear weapons, no other country was an atomic power in 1945 when the Security Council's permanent seats were offered to Britain, France, Russia and China.
One also wonders how India can ask for membership in any possible enlargement of the Security Council with its horrendous record of state terrorism and human rights violations in Kashmir. From 1947, some 80,000 people have been killed by the Indian armed forces.
Since 1989, when the Kashmiri Mujahideen began their freedom struggle, more than half a million Indian troops have decimated 15,000 to 20,000 young men, raped 45,000 women, burnt innumerable houses (with unestimated number of people inside them) apart from hundreds of extra-judicial and police custodial killings.
Will Britain, France and Germany, which have been expressing their support for India's candidature, neglect India's rejection of UN resolutions on Kashmir and human rights violations - not only in the valley but everywhere in the country against its own women, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians? Do they think that a country having border and territorial disputes still smouldering with neighbours can be a permanent member?
S. M. KAZIM NAQVI
Karachi
Altaf's Delhi visit
Can anybody visualize the vociferous outbursts of our government if Wali Khan or Benazir Bhutto had gone to Delhi and said what Mr Altaf Hussain stated at the Hindustan Times seminar held in Delhi? Whatever the political compulsions of this government, Mr Hussain has gone too far into forbidden territory, by reportedly terming the partition of India and hence the creation of Pakistan a grave error. He advocates the Indian stance that the LoC be declared as the international boundary.
Political exigencies of this government cannot justify its silence on this issue when the leader of one of the coalition factions has the audacity to term the very creation of Pakistan a grave error.
The people of the Frontier province are disturbed over this silence. If this government can launch an uncalled for military action in Wana, in which innocent men, women and children have been slaughtered, it needs to disassociate itself from Mr Altaf Hussain.
The identity and security of Pakistanis is wedded to the existence of Pakistan as a sovereign, independent nation. Any attack on it by any individual or a group is an attack on the prestige and integrity of this whole nation.
I respect the rights of those who migrated to Pakistan and consider them as sons of the soil as long as they adhere to the ideology of Pakistan. More harm has been done to Pakistan by the few who have benefited the most and yet at the end of the day migrate to foreign countries along with their wealth. It is time this government differentiated between economic migrants and those who believe in the ideology of Pakistan.
NASIR KHAKAKHEL
Peshawar
'Primacy of textbook revision'
With reference to Mr Omar R. Quraishi's article "Primacy of textbook revision" (Nov 2), I would like to say that apart from the discrepancies the writer has mentioned, officially approved Pakistan studies textbooks for the matric, as well as for the O level, have deliberate omissions of two very prominent personalities, namely, Sir Zafarullah Khan and Dr Abdus Salam.
Sir Zafarullah Khan is nowhere to be found in mentions of occasions such as the Shimla deputation or the roundtable conferences where he played a pivotal role, nor is his contribution as foreign minister of Pakistan right after its inception recognized.
The same is the case with Dr Abdus Salam, the founder of Suparco, the Atomic Energy Commission and many other institutions in Pakistan that remain productive even today. There is no mention of him as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
ZAINAB MAHMOOD
Wimbledon, UK
Campus violence
Your editorial "Violence on campuses" (Nov 3) says the academic environment of universities in Pakistan is being spoilt by teachers and students who are politicized. This argument is based on the general misperception that politics is bad. In Pakistan, politics means corruption, using unfair means, terrorizing your rivals, absence of tolerance of non-conformity and imposition of monolithic ideas, etc.
Politics thus defined has little to do with the traditions of vibrant political societies and academic institutions where political awareness provides citizens with great insight to play an active role in putting democratic restraint against dictatorial regimes.
One may argue that the grim situation on the campuses in Pakistan is largely due to the depoliticization of students and teachers. This depoliticization has its own history, starting from the direct military rule in 1958 and even before. This gave birth to two major elements as regards the country's political landscape.
One, myopic mullahs often enter into political alliances with the ruling elite through bargaining skills which they have nurtured under the patronage of their feudal/industrialist and military lords while leaving their followers in the delusion that their mission is to Islamize the state and fight the secular lot.
Another generation is that of the so-called moralists, liberals and seculars who say little against dictatorial regimes as they think that the real danger is religious extremism.
In this context both mullahs and liberals, quite contrary to their intentions, play the same role - to convince the ruling elite to Islamize (in the case of mullahs) and democratize (in the case of liberals) the state.
In doing so they take upon themselves the task to create society in their own image through reforms from above. This tendency of convincing the ruling elite to mend its ways does not take into account the broader global dimensions of power structures and the new patterns of relationships framed by the neo-liberal agenda.
A mature political understanding of issues in their local and global linkages may help build a vibrant political culture both in society and on the campuses in Pakistan.
The fascist tendencies encouraged by religious and nationalist leaders and the intellectual bankruptcy of liberals call for an alternative political struggle from below that should work for the restoration of student unions and is committed to exposing the real face of the ruling elite, the watchdogs of neo-imperialism.
AMIR HUSSAIN
London, UK
Tampering with history
This refers to the PTV live talk show "Hot Seat" (Nov 10) in which MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed reiterated his position on issues such as Kashmir, relations with America and the president's military uniform.
Being an ideologue he is not expected to have a down-to-earth approach on any of these subjects. However, one cannot expect distortion and denial of historical facts from a religio-political leader of his calibre. The following assertions emerged out of his account of the political history of Pakistan:
1. The Jamaat-i-Islami had never opposed the Pakistan Movement.
2. Maulana Maudoodi had never said anything against jihad in Kashmir.
3 The JI did not support Ziaul Haq's Islamic mission.
The facts are quite contrary to these claims. To verify the first two assertions, one does not need to read articles or books written by JI's opponents; Jamaat's founder Maulana Maudoodi's own writings (whose new editions are purged but many people still have their original copies) will prove them to be wrong.
As regards the claim that the JI did not support Zia, Main Tufail Muhammad, the former Jamaat chief, recently justified his party's support for Zia on a private TV channel programme. He said Zia was the Salahuddin Ayubi of modern Islamic history.
Someone has rightly said: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." So, no tampering with history can wash the facts away.
SHAHID ANWAR
Toba Tek Singh
Military spending
In his letter "Military spending" (Nov 11), Mr Humayun Zafar has given a figure which does not make sense to justify Pakistan's military spending of 5.6 per cent of GDP as opposed to the India's 2.8 per cent of GDP.
GDP is the only criterion used by the civilized world to calculate overspending or under spending and not per capita spending by the military, which may well represent the quality of equipment, higher calibre training or simply it may be inefficiency on the part of a military.
If Pakistan wants to match India, it must bring down its melter budget below three per cent to come along in line with other countries. If India wants to match Pakistan's 5.6 per cent military expenditure by increasing its defence budget or the number of troops equal to seven times of Pakistan (as per the ratio of population), it will be so high that even China may become worried.
With the phenomenal growth of its economy, India will never need more than three per cent for defence. Pakistan should try that route. Jane's Journal of Defence has concluded that any nation spending more than three per cent of GDP is spending beyond means and at the expense of national development, industrialization and educational and social up liftment.
SAM BAIDYA
Toronto, Canada
Road repairs
We residents of 'C' category, Block 11, Federal B. Area, Karachi, would like to bring it to the notice of the relevant authorities that road repair works were initiated in our area in May and partial repairs were also carried out but stopped after some time.
The officials concerned have given us no satisfactory answer. When the city nazim was approached, he asked the authorities to expedite the work, but nothing has happened so far.
HUMAYUN ZAFAR
Karachi
A rebel with a cause
With the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, an important chapter in the history of legitimate struggles and resistance against illegal occupation has come to an end.
He was a symbol of hope, fearless leadership and inspiration for millions all across the globe. Very few in the West know that he was elected by a clear majority vote by his people - a mandate which even President Bush and a host of his so-called "coalition forces leaders" don't enjoy.
It's sad that the "Father of the Palestinian nation" has died and I doubt if peace in the troubled Middle East, especially in the occupied land, can now be achieved to the satisfaction of the Palestinians.
AAMIR A. SALARIA
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
(2)
Yasser Arafat was a rebel with a cause: freedom from humiliation. The man dies; the cause lives.
BARRISTER BAACHAA
Peshawar
Poaching birds
The picture of dozens of birds fluttering trapped in a cage, was a cruel sight indeed (Dawn, Nov 9). Some of the birds such as the crows, chakors, doves, desi mynah, falcons, grouse, owls, partridges, pheasants, pigeons, peacocks, sparrows and woodpeckers that are ordinarily caught are endangered and protected species.
Birds lend life to our ecosystem. They are an important agent of biological control of insects - pests, rodents and reptiles - for our agricultural and fruit crops.
Poaching of birds can only be justified if their population crosses the economic threshold level and becomes a threat to our food and fruit crops. Sale of birds is going on in our cities, because of ineffective punishment for the offenders.
Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should be activated in the big cities. Bird poaching is also thriving because of illiteracy and poverty, as the poachers have no other means to earn their living.
M. SHAFIQUE AHMED
Karachi
Need for bargaining
"Armitage coming with a heavy agenda," says the headline of a Dawn report (Nov 9). Why do our leaders shy away from asking for their due share when any high-level delegation comes to Pakistan? Let an agreement be signed the next time when such a high-level delegation comes from United States or from any European country for sending abroad 10,000 Pakistani students each year for pursuing master's programmes.
This is how "enlightened moderation" will come in our society because education is real empowerment.
AFZAL RAHIM
Islamabad
A suggestion
PML secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed has suggested releasing all political detainees. We request the president and the prime minister to pay heed to this suggestion. This will also boost the reputation of our rulers as well as our country abroad.
MUHAMMAD RIAZ
Thana Malakand Agency
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